Whatever people might do, wherever they might end up at – they will feed; they will clothe; and they will occupy a place on earth. It is for this reason, we here at IDG in Pakistan, feel that the idea to establish a forum linking up the buyers to the sellers (e-commerce, in other words, folks). A self-subsisting organism, much like the film industry, thriving on its own; a great way to keep the economy running, the salary slips slipping and the people smiling.
It is not until the Fat Lady (E-commerce) Sings
‘Mera Joota hai Japani’ the Bollywood song of a forgotten era, may have encapsulated the essence of globalization at the time, but today it is not so much about going and getting the ‘joota’ (shoe) from Japan anymore, as it is about being connected to the ‘Jootey wala’ (Japanese shoe manufacturer) from Japan in front of a virtual screen – itself.
Daraz.pk, a venture by Rocket internet, is a very relevant case in point, as is the provider of gifts – Tohfay.com, both of whom were interviewed by IDG in Pakistan the past wintry year.
Connecting businesses to consumers, and consumers to consumers, Daraz.pk receives about 500,000 unique customers everyday with about 1000 items being dispatched to the 50 % of the orders coming their way from cities outside the major cities.
It is possibly the interest in banking on the ‘increase in Internet usage,’ as quoted by Google Research in Dec of last year, that online portals in the shape of Zameen.com, first in 2006; and Lamudi next, launched earlier this month, has seen a great marriage between the two trends: the rising Internet usage on mobile phones, causing a surge in e-commerce and a booming real estate market to flourish as a result.
Rocket Internet Takes Upon Another Child – Lamudi
Rocket Internet, with headquarters in Germany, is a startup nurturer for online companies. Providing “people, functional best practices, funding and on-going hands on support” this time to Lamudi, a real estate forum connecting the buyers to the sellers, Rocket Internet is definitely rocking the boat on this one. With waves stirring in about 17 countries, across 3 continents Asia, Africa and Latin America, Lamudi is certainly creating a storm.
With plans of coming out with an app soon, Lamudi’s venture into Pakistan was carried out with solid footing. With statistics to back it up, the venture, in 2015, so they say in their press release in the nation’s newspapers, ‘a segment of the mobile shopping will account for $163 billion in sales worldwide, 12% of global e-commerce turnover.’ In Pakistan, the trend is to catch on with about 15 million smartphone users cropping up. The online portal covers the cities Lahore, where its headquarters are located, Karachi and Islamabad.
- Advertisements -500 to 600 new uploads (advertisements)
- Agencies – 300 top real estate agencies
- Prospective buyers – 8,000 to 10,000
Algeria, Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Tunisia and in Uganda are the countries where Lamudi is ‘landed.’
With so many countries to boot, the online real estate portal has a rich data set, and a penetration that is reaching rapidly and swiftly.
No Trespassing! – I Got Here First: Zameen
Seeing the rise in real estate portals in UK, France and Germany, the duo of Zameen – Zeeshan Ali Khan and Imran Ali Khan – could not wait to get the same started in the country.
With a huge number of diaspora outside the country flocking to the website, by a large landslide – without a doubt – as shared by the duo in their recent interview with IDG in Pakistan, the same divulged how about 25% traffic comes from mobile sources.
For this purpose the duo spent a great deal of time making a product as mobile-friendly as they could. With all talk about apps and tablets shooting to prominence, the duo, too, is also very enthusiastic about using them both in the coming months very soon.
However, how do the two stand against each other –Zameen and Lamudi?
Could this be the dead-end where the ghost swallows up the PacMan whole?
We, here at IDG in Pakistan, think not.
Faceoff: Zameen vs Lamudi
Oranges and Lemons is to what Zameen and Lamudi are – the members of the same family.
This segment of the Pakistani market monopolized by Zameen.com for long, has, finally, after almost a decade, met its competitor – a competitor backed by the start-up cradle-rocker – Rocket Internet.
The cake may have halved, but it won’t be eaten up by one person whole, we think. Although it won’t be long before it gets further divided by the eights, and twelfths, this can only be great news for the Pakistani consumers, where with competition and greater digital visibility of real estate agencies and properties, consumers will be able to find the best products for their wares and/ or fares.
It’s in the cards!
According to Tohfay co-founder Mehdi Hasnain, in an interview with IDG in Pakistan: “If trend is a friend, that’s where you’re going my friend!” There could not have been a better quote to pull out in the context of the dynamic duo – rising internet and booming real estate market.
An enthusiastic Imran Ali Khan, saw the trend in China replicating in Pakistan, and jumped atop the ecommerce bandwagon. “There is a 30 % internet penetration at the moment and it is likely to grow,” says Imran, statistic backed by the recent researches conducted by Google and P@SHA research: Mobile internet overtakes desktop internet and Internet Study, respectively.
Conclusion
It is only a matter of time, before the blue collar workers, mostly – since they are the most vulnerable, and needy – will flock in the virtual lines to get their basic necessities – ‘Roti, Kapra, Makan’ soon. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, anybody?
On the other end of the spectrum, to keep the views balanced and wholesome, the technical engineer from EatOye, in a conversation with IDG in Pakistan, very aptly put it: “Pakistani e-commerce has almost become the digital Yellow Pages, albeit a different kind –an interactive kind: where, if you ever wanted to find a rich data set about a certain industry or product/ service, you might engage in logging into these websites for that good/ service. But rarely will you ever buy from that good/ service.”
Such pessimism from an e-commerce website itself is in bad taste. Don’t you think?
What can we do to change the e-commerce of the country? Also, would you ever buy a retail property from Lamudi.pk and Zameen.com? Please join us on a poll now to view the results of that poll in real-time.
References:
http://www.techinasia.com/rocket-internets-real-estate-venture-lamudi-expands-pakistan-
